"Surgery Prepped and Ready..."

"Surgery prepped and ready..."

" ...sir."

New Marine Pics... I Don't Get It. Seriously.

Okay, first up...

Ugh.  Maybe with their hats off..?

Holy Cupcakes! Apocalypse Necron Super Monolith

Are those Spyders or Wraiths?

I don't normally post (anything popular) but this is just too cool.

Brent

Latest High Elf Image! And it...

...doesn't mean a thing to me.

(Really?)

Really.

Yeah, this was an evil trick.

You saw the High Elf image...

...then saw the rather leading title...

...promising some brand new 'High Elf image' that, for whatever reason, 1) I have and 2) you haven't seen.

When all I really wanted was to drop a quick picture about the army I'm working on for Wargames Con.

I'm putting together a Khorne Daemonic List for Wargames Con.

That's all I wanted to say.  That's it - nothing doing 'round here!

Finished the New Workspace...

...and I'm starting to crank out models again.

Here's I'm working on my Fall-themed Hordes army.  I plan to two more Warlocks and some Tharn units before it's all over.

This is a shot I took when batch spraying Dark Angels models.  My goal here is a consistently-painted, pleasing tabletop army.  Nothing fancy, but nothing to be ashamed of either.  We'll see if I'm on the right track soon enough.

Here's my old painting space.  Not sure how I'm storing the knickknacks remaining.

With the addition of airbrushes, my space expanded.

I've since added a dedicated space just for putting together models.  Already it's paying off, just in time saved not moving stuff around for table space.

Anyway, off to real work.  Mondays.  

WarmaHordes Work in Progress, Pureblood

Brent here, on this fine Monday morning.

Except it's Tuesday and I sacrificed Monday on the alter of work.  Off late, then bed as early as possible, with something of a blur in between.  Jennifer made good lasagna though.

I'm knocking out my Circle army for Hordes.  Here's a work in progress of the Pureblood.

I want him to hold something bloody in his right hand - just haven't decided what yet.

In other news, my room is wrecked.  Seriously.

I tend to enjoy putting up these voyeuristic game room pictures, but I also enjoy seeing them.  If anyone has a link, please drop it!  I know it's a pain these days with the anti-spam-bot-measures-of-craziness but it would be appreciated.

In my case, Dad bought me a nice work table from the big-box hardware store, and I put it together before realizing I didn't have the actual wooden top.  Plus, I'm removing shelving to make room for it, then got stuck in between.

Ah well. 

Off to work, I suppose...

Regarding 40K Releases and Multiple Armies

(Here's my thoughts regarding the recent spate of quick releases for 40K.  I left it as a comment on BoLS, but I'm going to avoid the impulse to dress it up.)

I suspect Games Workshop has been stalling releases a bit, waiting for some of the pending legislation to work its way through the courts; Chapterhouse being perhaps the largest example.
From what I can tell - and of course, this isn't an expert opinion by any stretch - GW may lose out their claim of IP on any model that isn't already in production in some way. Perhaps they slowed down their production toward the end of 5th with the expectation that books and a full range of miniatures needed to be released at one time?
Ah well. I'm really enjoying the releases, but this definitely heralds the age of collecting an army or two, not ranges, and certainly not every army! It's too expensive for the average gamer to own and support more than a few anymore.
Pick your favorite!

Of course, time is also an investment!  Here's all the stuff for my stalled out Bugs! army.  I'll get around to it one of these days, but it's just a huge project to tackle.

Creating a Blood-Soaked Monstrous Base

Or rather, did this work??

As strange as this sounds, I've never really tried the 'soaked in blood' base idea.  So I started from white...

...but in hindsight a nice coat of red over that would have been a better base to work from.  I just started layering on different glazes and washes and such.  Not only did it take forever to dry, it required multiple layers and waaaaay too much paint / glaze / wash... you get the idea.

Here's a pic of the final product, without using the flash on the camera.  Since it looked more 'muddy rust' than 'fresh blood'...

I layered on some 'Ard Coat for the shine.

Here's the work-in-progress miniature, which I'm trying to paint using James Wappel's method of putting down midtones before shadows then highlights.  At this point, I was really just started.  Should be done tomorrow.

As I look at these pictures, it still needs some cleaning up - anyone got any good ideas for an easier way to do this?

Daemons... just too lazy to try...

Okay, I've got the new Daemons Codex... now what to do with it?

I've got a game at the FLGS in about an hour, so it seems like a good time to try out the new book.  That said, while I've got a gazillion models, about half a gazillion aren't put together.  I don't want to take on that chore until I have an idea what direction I want to take the list.

To that end, I'm going to put together my old, tournament winning list and see if it's worth a crap now.

Scratch that.  Turns out, the Horrors are in the dip.  I had this vague, partially formed idea that I'd use the smaller, metal Horrors as Blue Horrors to fill out units.  So in the dip they went!

Here's a better idea - I'm going to put together a Chaos Space Marine army with Daemon allies.  I'll be able to try out some new goodies without stretching it too much.  We've not been playing much 40K around these parts, so I'm rusty.

Scratch that.  Except the part about being rusty.  Turns out, without Army Builder to help me kick around lists, I'm forced to resort to...

...creating a spreadsheet to do the work for me.  Can't kick around with a pen and a blank piece of paper anymore.

So I just built a Chaos Space Marine Roster.  Talk about lazy.

* * * 

2000 Pts - Chaos Space Marines Roster - (NICE AND BASIC!)

1 Chaos Lord in Terminator Armour, 142 pts ((C:CSM, pp. 31 & 93); Infantry (Character); Terminator Armour; Mark of Khorne; Power Sword; Power Fist; Bulky; Champion of Chaos; Counter-attack; Fearless; Hatred (Space Marines); Independent Character; Rage; Veterans of the Long War; Warlord)
5 Khorne Berzerkers, 200 pts ((C:CSM, pp. 44 & 98); Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Icon of Wrath; Bolt Pistol x3; Close Combat Weapon x5; Plasma Pistol x2; Counter-attack; Fearless; Furious Charge; Furious Charge; Hatred (Space Marines); Mark of Khorne; Rage; Veterans of the Long War)
   1 Berzerker Champion ((C:CSM, pp. 44 & 98); Infantry (Character); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Power Fist x1; Champion of Chaos; Counter-attack; Fearless; Furious Charge; Hatred (Space Marines); Mark of Khorne; Rage; Veterans of the Long War)
1 Chaos Land Raider, 245 pts ((C:CSM, pp. 55 & 103); Vehicle (Transport); 10 model capacity; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Daemonic Possession; Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter; Twin-linked Lascannons (each side); Assault Vehicle)

9 Thousand Sons, 265 pts ((C:CSM, pp. 43 & 98); Infantry; Aura of Dark Glory; Inferno Bolts; Power Armour; Boltgun w/ Inferno Bolts x9; Fearless; Hatred (Space Marines); Mark of Tzeentch; Slow and Purposeful; Veterans of the Long War)
   1 Aspiring Sorcerer ((C:CSM, pp. 43 & 98); Infantry (Character); Aura of Dark Glory; Inferno Bolts; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol w/ Inferno Bolts; Force Sword; Champion of Chaos; Fearless; Hatred (Space Marines); Mark of Tzeentch; Psyker (Mastery Level 1); Slow and Purposeful; Veterans of the Long War; Biomancy; Pyromancy; Telepathy; Tzeentch)

9 Chaos Space Marines, 230 pts ((C:CSM, pp. 37 & 95); Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x9; Boltgun x7; Meltagun; Heavy Bolter; Hatred (Space Marines); Veterans of the Long War)
   1 Aspiring Champion ((C:CSM, pp. 37 & 95); Infantry (Character); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Boltgun; Power Fist x1; Champion of Chaos; Hatred (Space Marines); Veterans of the Long War)
   1 Chaos Rhino ((C:CSM, pp. 54 & 99); Vehicle (Transport); 10 model capacity; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Combi-Boltgun; Repair)

9 Chaos Space Marines, 230 pts ((C:CSM, pp. 37 & 95); Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x9; Boltgun x7; Meltagun; Heavy Bolter; Hatred (Space Marines); Veterans of the Long War)
   1 Aspiring Champion ((C:CSM, pp. 37 & 95); Infantry (Character); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Boltgun; Power Fist x1; Champion of Chaos; Hatred (Space Marines); Veterans of the Long War)
   1 Chaos Rhino ((C:CSM, pp. 54 & 99); Vehicle (Transport); 10 model capacity; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Combi-Boltgun; Repair)

9 Chaos Space Marines, 245 pts ((C:CSM, pp. 37 & 95); Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x9; Boltgun x7; Plasma gun; Lascannon; Hatred (Space Marines); Veterans of the Long War)
   1 Aspiring Champion ((C:CSM, pp. 37 & 95); Infantry (Character); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Boltgun; Power Fist x1; Champion of Chaos; Hatred (Space Marines); Veterans of the Long War)
   1 Chaos Rhino ((C:CSM, pp. 54 & 99); Vehicle (Transport); 10 model capacity; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Combi-Boltgun; Repair)

9 Chaos Space Marines, 210 pts ((C:CSM, pp. 37 & 95); Infantry; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol x9; Boltgun x7; Plasma gun; Lascannon; Hatred (Space Marines); Veterans of the Long War)
   1 Aspiring Champion ((C:CSM, pp. 37 & 95); Infantry (Character); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Armour; Bolt Pistol; Boltgun; Power Fist x1; Champion of Chaos; Hatred (Space Marines); Veterans of the Long War)
1 Aegis Defence Lines, 100 pts (Battlefield Debris (Defence Lines))
   1 Gun Emplacement (Quad-gun)

1 Chaos Vindicator, 130 pts ((C:CSM, pp. 55 & 103); Vehicle (Tank); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Extra Armour; Demolisher Cannon)

Back in Black (and red, and purple...)

I'm well and truly back in my game room, having successfully stopped battling 12-year olds for dominance of Black Ops II's multiplayer servers.

It's amazing how obnoxious people can get.  You've got these kids who haven't quite hit puberty spout off the most vile racial slurs imaginable, all while dropping the F-Bomb every other word.  Worse sometimes are the adults.  The other day, I was on at 3 in the morning (insomnia) with some guys in Europe.  This Brit couldn't quite take losing, so obviously somebody had to be cheating.  Or camping.  Or using the wrong gun.

Whatever.  I make use of the Twit Filter often.

(The mute button.  By the way, Aliens Colonial Marines sucks and Dead Space III is fun.  More fun is cranking out models.)

Oh, yeah.  The game room.  Kinda a mess to be honest...

...but who has time to clean?  I've got models waiting.

Finished Brotherhood Version of Lysander...

...well, except for his shield.

And maybe his heraldry.

And, you know, I plan to do freehand.

But I got three more models for the Haqqislam army I'm putting together...

...so this is done for the time being!

Mmm... looking over these photos and comparing them to yesterday, when I tightened up the blends on the shoulder pads they became a bit more blue than I would have liked.  I washed the hammer just slightly with black, which I'm happy with, but the wash on the shoulder pads was perhaps a bit too much.

But I'm airbrushing red onto a model... no pictures of my version of her, just yet but she's front and center in this class pic:

Who said the women of New Islam can't have a bit of a manga flair?

Busting Out of the Rut

I was reading a John Constantine graphic novel this morning, and Epiphany told John it was good for him to hang out with someone younger because "You older guys can get caught in a rut."

That's been me, lately.  Stuck in a rut.  My normal habit for years now has been to paint or model daily, not to mention the whole blogging thing over the past three or so years.  Last two months, not so much.

Anyway, with work lightening up and some local interest in a new game (Infinity), I'm forcing myself to put down the game controller or book and pick back up a paint brush.

Here's what I'm working on now - something unnecessary!

Not quite done here - there's nothing like taking a picture to make all the flaws on a model evident.  I've got to tighten up the blends on the shoulder pads, for one thing, and of course I need to paint the Storm Shield.  I'm planning some sort of heraldry for the chest plate, but I haven't decided what yet.

I mentioned unnecessary... I'm not actually playing the Brotherhood lately, and this model isn't necessary in the army I would run!

Anyway, off to work.

Infinity Addendum; Videos from YouTube

As an addendum to the Infinity article I posted on Bell of Lost Souls today, here's some videos.  Thanks to Gauthic for the email, and making it easy to get back posting on Strictly Average!

It'll be interesting to see how quickly I can get this blog steaming along again, since right now it's deader than a doornail.  Interestingly, for the first month of practically no content it maintained somewhat well.

Not so much in January!  I'm not really that worried about it... as evidenced by not even trying to swing at the slow pitches... because in the end the motivation and time just wasn't there.  In fact, in two plus decades of this hobby I've never been this apathetic.  Maybe I'll explore that, maybe not.

Moving on, here are the Infinity videos - I'm off to watch them now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNe1P6jLLLE - How to Play 1  (3:10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaT-pu5Ro68 - How To Play 2 (2:53)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxl__iJTn8s - How to Play 3 (3:30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3YBW3Xuq1c - Impetuous Orders (3:29)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owKOt7O9J98 - Smoke Grenades (5:25)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPQCI1VlSj4 - Camouflage and Hiding (3:00)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bWWveKGi1c - Camouflage and Hiding 2 (1:53)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKStC-fVV_c  - Camouflage and Hiding 3 (1:56)

Afternoon Quickie: Fantasy and some WiP pics

Or as we like to call Fantasy in our area, Amateur Night!  We are none of us all that great at this game, but with the FLGS owner asking for a push...

...why, push I will!  If it doesn't work once, I'll push it again - what are we talking about again?

I played Sam-I-Am at the store a few nights ago.

The table.  Units marching out.  This game was characterized by skirmishing and light cavalry fighting it out on the right flank, moving in and out for position, whilst my heavy-duty-booty smashing units marched up the center.  Sam had the answers... but as is usual for the man's poor luck, he managed to blow himself up.  A few times.  Three, I think.  Ouch.

Cleaning and Organizing the Assembly Line

I'm late, I'm late!  Too much to dooooo..!

Brian, I'm Basing!

Brian, from a Gentleman's Ones, and I have been going back and forth in preparation for the upcoming Adepticon.  His last post hit right on the money...

SA/GO: which B …? (part six) B is for basing

With that in mind, I spent some extra time on this base:

The picture isn't that great; the flash was on so the blue tones are a bit washed out.  That said, the base was the focal point and it came out fine.  You get the idea.

Painting... and Painting.. and Painting

So I missed out on yesterday's 2K tournament at Galaxy Books and Comics, which was ultimately won by a nifty Black Templar army from Lawton, Oklahoma.  From what I saw while I was there, it did the heavy lifting with three Vindicators, three 2-strong units of Typhoon Speeders, and a brick of ten Terminators.

I hung out with the Master Manipulator (every store needs one) for a bit, kibitzing the game between the Client Pimp in Questions Necrons and Little Barrera's Dark Eldar.

From a distance!  It's a pretty entertaining exercise in prediction, since you can tell how the game is going just by listening in on the conversation.

Anyway, I left early to come home and work on the Little Tim That Could's Grey Knight commission, and I'm almost done with the halberd section.  But it got me thinking.

Most of us just aren't painting fast enough.

* * * 

Why Isn't the Matte Spray... Matte?

This is a cry for help...

HELP!

• Problem:  Shiny
• Solution:  Matte Spray

So what isn't it working?

Adepticon 1850 List, Necrons

With less than two months to go, Adepticon is the next big event on my tournament horizon.  Currently, I'm not planning on playing in the Championship rounds, since I'm scheduled to participate with Jon, Nick, and Goat in the Team Tournament.

Last year three days in a row of a brutal schedule was enough to wipe me out.  By the finals on Sunday I was beat.

That said, I might find it hard to resist if I get there and the opportunity presents itself.  Currently I'm planning on taking Necrons, both for off games and the possibility of playing in the tournament.

So, 1850 'Crons, take one:

Can Daemons Be Updated for 2012??

I guess I'll file this under Afternoon Quickies; it's not going to have much more than the army lists, today.

Recap Tournament:  Good time.

Game One = Buy...  I was at my nephew's baptism so missed Round One.  The MM(esno) held a spot for the afternoon.  

Game Two = Win over Necrons...  Poor Client Pimp in Question!  Our local addict was crawling out of his skin after missing Round One to a buy!  He needed the win to have a solid chance at first, but the Daemons stole it away in the later turns of the game.

Game Three = Loss to Vulcan Marines, er, Salamanders...  Everybody's Brother From Another Mother Big Whit played the best 40K I've seen him play.  Real solid game and a very nice tweak on his former offering.

Game Four = Massacred by the Dark Eldar...  Think Custer without all that mercy stuff.  Little Barrera went on to win the tournament, and Big Whit took second.